Ponus Ridge Middle School holds Career Day

NORWALK -- It's never too early for students to consider the careers they would like to pursue and Ponus Ridge Middle School is looking to get the ball rolling.

On Tuesday, the school held its annual Career Day, where working professionals from a number of fields spoke about their jobs and provided students with career advice.

Students met with a number of professionals, which included an attorney, engineer, entrepreneurs, an FBI agent, and emergency medical technicians.

Damon Lewis, principal of Ponus Ridge Middle School, said the early exposure provides a great experience for students.

"It all connects to the Common Core, which prepares students for college and career. We do our very best to provide the college piece here but we try to give them as much exposure to the career piece as possible," said Lewis.

Career Day at Ponus Ridge began last school year as an activity for 8th grade students. This year, Career Day was expanded to a school-wide event with speakers for all students in grade 6-8.

Mike Fratello and Mike Vinci of Norwalk Fire Department met with sixth grade students to discuss their day-to-day duties.

In addition to putting out fires, Fratello and Vinci respond to a number of non-fire emergencies such as car accidents, down wires, broken pipes and electrical problems.

They told students that it's important to do a job that they love but they also cautioned students that the career they prepared for in college may not be what they end up doing.

"I went to school for drafting. I thought I was going to draw all day but after doing it for three years I couldn't take it anymore," said Fratello, an 18-year veteran of the Norwalk Fire Department.

While working in drafting, Fratello also worked as a volunteer firefighter in Greenwich and Port Chester.

"I couldn't wait to get to the firehouse at 6:30 at night for drills rather than going to work in the morning," he said.

Fratello ultimately became a full-time firefighter in 1997 but says the process was competitive.

Vinci, who also works as an electrician, discovered firefighting while going to school for engineering.

"I happen to take a class on marine firefighting and decided that's what I liked better," he said.

The firefighters also gave students some safety tips such as establishing a meeting place outside the home in the event of a fire and regularly checking the batteries in smoke detectors.

"Our normal shift starts at about 7 or 7:30 in the morning and we stay for 24 hours," said Vinci.

Shifts can last 36 or 48 hours if the firemen work overtime.

"It's a lot of fun. It's an adult version of summer camp," said Vinci. "You're hanging out with all your friends at work but we also get paid fairly well so you have the piece of mind that your family will be covered."

Ponus Ridge had a total of 32 speakers, which covered 30 homeroom classes. The Career Day was organized by the School Governance Council and guidance counselors.

"One of the responsibilities of the School Governance Council is to expose students to different careers and that increases our academic achievement here in school because they work hard toward a chosen path," said Lewis.

"We're doing our very best in the timeframe that we have with the kids. If we can expose them to something that they're not used to seeing, then we've done our job."